Watch your buns!

Hong Kong considers making bun snatching a round-the-year sport
at 4:59 on May 9, 2005, EST.

HONG KONG (AP) - The Hong Kong government is considering making a popular traditional Chinese bun snatching event an around-the-year sport, an official said Monday.

Until the late 1970s, locals scaled a tower structure covered with steamed buns once a year as part of the traditional "bun festival" on suburban Cheung Chau island. The top bun was believed to bring good luck.

But officials cancelled the event after a bun tower collapsed in 1978, injuring 100 people. The government relaunched the tradition this year using a more stable tower buttressed with concrete and subject to new rules and modern mountaineering safety measures.

The resumed ritual has been well-received, with 41 people participating in a preliminary competition earlier this month, and the government is now considering letting it become a full-fledged sport.

"We hope bun snatching can be available all year if the public thinks it's fun," Secretary for Home Affairs Patrick Ho said on a radio show.

"Now this is turning from a tradition to a . . . sporting event," Ho said.

Gone is the mad scramble to the top of the bun tower. The 12 finalists of this year's bun snatching contest will pack their bags with as many buns as possible within a given period, with the higher buns worth more points. The competitor with the most points wins.